This was my attempt at shooting new targets with a .54 caliber Renegade and some different size ball-ets. I started out with the 336 grain HP ball-et and since I had never shot them, loaded 70 grains of Swiss 3f black powder. I circled the hits on the yellow target in green. They were all over the place. I then changed to Pyrodex RS and upped the charge to 90 grains of powder and the 336 grain ball-ets behaved much better. I should point out that I did not swab the barrel while shooting the group.

I then swabbed the barrel and changed the target. I also went to the 310 grain RN ball-et. Again, since 90 grains of Pyrodex worked so well I stuck with it. I fired a three shot group that clover leafed. I then adjusted my POI to see if I could hit the bulls eye. After that I decided to see just how fast I could load and shoot the ball-et so I fired off I belief eight more. On the last one the loading was becoming hard, so I stopped. I really was happy with the accuracy of the 310 grain ball-ets.

Sabotloader was the one who presented me with the blue target and of course SharpShooter was responsible for the yellow target. Thanks guys. I print them on card stock paper and they work excellent....

I really want 310gr ballets to be my bullet for most of the game I hunt. I hope they shoot well out of my renegade to.

What was the 336gr ballet? How did you like that? Would it be good for hunting or not since it was a HP?

PS. Glad you tried my target! How did you like it?

By the way, I think it is 338 grains.

They are indeed 338 grain ball-ets. I misread the box of them. When I opened the box I messed up the label a little. As for your target, it worked fine. Easy to see and get a target on. If a person can keep all their hits in that circle there is not a reason for them to miss a animal.

I think any of them would work fine on deer size targets. The 310 were much more accurate, so of course you go with what you can shoot the best with.

cayugad

Dang nice shooting - it has been raining cats & dogs here since sunday - no shooting for me this weekend..

Did revise that target again added some cross-hairs for shooting scopes.

that's a good idea...

Now that we know they will shoot, I wonder if they behave like a round ball on impact......

I do know that friends and I deer hunted with ball-ets many years ago. I shot a doe through the top of the heart and out the other shoulderat under 30 yards, it blew right through her and she dropped where she stood. I never gave it a lot of thought. The other fellow I hunted with for some reason was a head or neck shooter. He still to this day brings in deer shot usually in the head. He popped a little buck in the neck at the base of the skull and said the damage was really impressive. I never asked more then that and his dropped on the spot too.

They do carry a little more weight. I wonder too, with that hollow base if they were to hit solid bone, would they flatten like a pancake or tumble out of control?

cayugad: do you use a wonderwad under the ball-et, or put it right on the powder? Also, do you lube them, or are they pre-lubed?
As for your question about flattening out, it sounds like somebody ought to do some testing with pine boards, water jugs, etc. and let us know.
Thanks for the info on the ball-ets. As I've been reading more on my New Frontier Beartooth, I see that it says to NOT use saboted bullets over 300 gr, but it doesn't say that about conicals, which I believe the ballet would qualify as. I've decided to stick with their recommendation for sabots, but wouldn't mind trying that 310 gr ball-et if I can get it down the barrel. Do you have any way of telling what the exact diameter is?

OH - I just noticed that you tested the 54 cal. Never mind about the diameter. I have a 50.

IM jaybe

As you noted jaybe, the 310 is for the .54. You can get 245 and 270 hp ballets in 50 caliber. The contact surface of these (Buffalo brand)are not grooved but knurled, like wadcutter style bullets, and are prelubed. I would be very surprised if you had as much difficulty with these as you did sabots. They are very inexpensive, (you can get 50 of 'em for about $11). It wouldbe best to hunt with them like you would a roundball in terms of shot placement.

Happy hunting, Phil